The future of the NDIS – Australia’s world-leading scheme to support people with disability – is in doubt because the costs are exploding. Now the federal government is acting. The Getting the NDIS Back on Track Bill proposes a massive overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, in order to rein in costs and provide greater clarity on program delivery. While the bill has been pitched as an improvement to access, program sustainability, and protections from unethical practices,...

The Australian Energy Market Operator has published its annual Gas Statement of Opportunities report. The report forecasts difficult times ahead for Australia’s east coast gas market, with a risk of shortfalls on peak demand days in 2025 and seasonal supply gaps from 2026. So, is Australia running out of gas? At the household level, people are concerned about keeping the heater going and the cooktop on. In the bigger picture, governments and industry are grappling with a complex change from...

School principals can make a big impact. A highly effective principal can raise student achievement by up to seven months a year for a typical student, and even more for a disadvantaged student. But running a school well is a difficult job-just ask any principal. Schools are complex organisations. The average secondary school principal manages a budget of more than $15 million, which is more than the turnover of 98 per cent of Australian businesses. And Australia expects each one of its...

The release of Australian gender pay gap data by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency has highlighted the big discrepancies in women's salaries, the absence of women in traditionally male dominated industries, and the lack of women in senior management of many major businesses. But while the release of this data has sparked a national discussion on why women are often paid less, there's more nuance to this story than what first appears. Equity expert Natasha Bradshaw breaks down what the...

Rents keep going up and up, and it doesn't seem like a reprieve is coming any time soon. The Reserve Bank has indicated that rent inflation is likely to remain high over the year ahead, before easing gradually. But with a federal election looming on the horizon, the government will be looking for answers, and fast. Listen to housing experts, Joey Moloney and Esther Suckling, discuss why 2024 might just be the year of the renter with host Kat Clay. Correction: Esther Suckling comments that...

Australia has a reading problem. A third of children can't read proficiently. In the typical Australian school classroom of 24 students, eight can't read well. This has huge flow on effects for their success in life and costs Australia billions of dollars. And the worst thing is, it's preventable. In this podcast, report authors Jordana Hunter and Anika Stobart discuss The Reading Guarantee: How to give every child the best chance for success, and offer a new plan of how to reform reading...

Each year Grattan selects its best books of the past 12 months as recommended reading for the Prime Minister and all Australians over the summer holidays. In this summer series, we discuss some of the works on the list with the people who wrote them. In this special podcast, Hannah Orban and Alastair McEwin discuss the Quarterly Essay, Lifeboat: Disability, Humanity, and the NDIS, with author Micheline Lee. The essay explains what it's like to live with disability in Australia, the big...

In addition to Grattan Institute’s annual Prime Minister’s Summer Reading List, our Wonks’ List highlights some of the year’s best technical policy reads, for anyone who wants to take a deeper dive. In this special podcast, Senior Associate Natasha Bradshaw discusses the Wonks' List with Associate Elizabeth Baldwin and Health Program Director Peter Breadon. Show notes and references The Wonks' List and our rationale: https://grattan.edu.au/news/wonks-list-2023/ Men. Male-biased sex...

Each year Grattan selects its best books of the past 12 months as recommended reading for the Prime Minister and all Australians over the summer holidays. In this summer series, we discuss some of the works on the list with the people who wrote them. In this special podcast, award-winning Mununjali author, Ellen Van Neerven, discusses their book Personal Score with Grattan associates Esther Suckling and Dominic Jones. The book is an expansive examination of race, gender and sexuality, told...

Each year Grattan selects its best books of the past 12 months as recommended reading for the Prime Minister and all Australians over the summer holidays. In this special summer series, we discuss some of the works on the list with the people who wrote them. In this special podcast, renowned Australian author Anna Funder discusses her literary non-fiction masterpiece, Wifedom. Hosted by Anika Stobart, Senior Associate, and Amy Haywood, Education Deputy Program Director. Read the full...

The National Disability Insurance Scheme Review has published its final report. The report contains 26 recommendations and 139 actions, many of which relate to creating a unified system of support for people with disability. But does the review go far enough? Is it going to deliver better outcomes for people with disability that rely on the NDIS, while creating a plan to manage spiralling costs? Listen to host Kat Clay, in conversation with Sam Bennett, Disability Program Director, and...

Last week, the OECD released the results of the program for international student assessment, better known as PISA. Every three years, hundreds of thousands of 15-year-old students from across the world sit tests in maths, science and reading. But what do the results show for Australia? And are our students doing better, worse, or about the same? Listen to Jordana Hunter, Education Program Director, and Nick Parkinson, Senior Associate, in conversation with host Kat Clay about the test and...

From cars to homes to industry, hydrogen has been hyped as an all-encompassing solution to meeting Australia’s emissions targets. But is it the golden ticket to a net-zero future? With the National Hydrogen Strategy under review, it’s time to get truly strategic with hydrogen. Listen to energy experts Alison Reeve and Richard Yan discuss their new report, *Hydrogen: hype, hope, or hard work?*. Read the report: https://grattan.edu.au/report/hydrogen-hype-hope-or-hard-work/ Donate to...

Each year, vaccines save thousands of lives. But in the wake of the pandemic, Australians are sick of hearing about vaccination. Amidst the misinformation on the internet and fatigue from government messaging, many of us have become complacent. New Grattan research shows that millions of older Australians at high risk of serious illness are missing out on essential vaccines, and certain groups of people are more likely to miss out than others. Listen to Peter Breadon, Health Program...

It's no secret that Australian roads are in a state of disrepair, but it's a lesser known fact that three quarters of our roads are managed by local councils. Many councils are struggling to look after our roads, because they don't have the revenue, the capacity, or the expertise. In this podcast, Natasha Bradshaw, Marion Terrill, and Dominic Jones discuss their latest report, Potholes and Pitfalls, which investigates why local roads are in a state of disrepair and provides a roadmap to fix...

Is tax reform in Australia an impossible dream? Danielle Wood addresses this question in her Freebairn Lecture, given in honour of Professor John Freebairn AO. In this special podcast presentation, she argues that tax reform is essential to rebuild the budget, improve equity, and break down the age segregation in the current tax system. Audio courtesy of the University of Melbourne Faculty of the Business and Economics. Read the full text of the speech:...

Salt is sneaking into Australian diets, worsening our health outcomes from salt-related diseases. And while Australia has a target to reduce salt intake by 30 per cent by 2030, our food policies lag behind other countries. But are our diets just a matter of personal responsibility? Or does the government have a greater role to play in reducing salt in our diets? Listen to Peter Breadon, Health Program Director, Lachlan Fox, Associate discuss Grattan’s latest report, Sneaky salt: How...

This month, Claudia Goldin made history for being the third woman to win the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences. As much as this is an outcome to be celebrated as a milestone for women in economics, as an economist, Goldin has shifted the world’s understanding of women’s labour market outcomes. Her influential research examines the reasons for the gender pay gap, and the educational, medical, and cultural progressions which prevent – or enable – women to work. The recent introduction of paid...

Australia faces stiff competition to attract the best students to study and stay in Australia. But a growing cohort of international students are being left behind on temporary visas, struggling to pursue their chosen careers. Grattan's latest report, Graduates in limbo: International student visa pathways after graduation, shows how government can fix visa pathways to give talented graduates a chance to shine, without offering false hope to students. Associate Tyler Reysenbach, is joined...

After four years, 32 public hearings, 8,000 submissions, and almost 10,000 people sharing their experience, the Disability Royal Commission has handed its final report to the federal government. Throughout the investigation, the commission heard horror stories of abuse, neglect, coercion, unscrupulous NDIS providers, and severe underpayment of workers with disability. With more than 200 recommendations, the government has an enormous task ahead of it to improve the lives of Australians with...

Our governments know a lot about us. They hold data on how much we earn, how much tax we pay, our health records, business earnings, even whether we have a fishing license. As we saw during the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, data on the spread of the virus and the pace of the vaccine rollout was vital for keeping us safe and holding our governments to account. Government data is also essential for informed public policy debates, and it’s invaluable for researchers and others who...

Last year, the federal government struck a Housing Accord with the states. Together, they committed to build 1 million new, well-located homes across Australia over the next five years. But sky-rocketing rents have turned up the heat on governments to do much more. Last month, National Cabinet responded. The new target is 1.2 million homes over five years, with the federal government offering financial rewards to whichever states do the most to get us towards the new target. And the Prime...

Grattan Institute CEO Danielle Wood delivered the annual Giblin Lecture in Hobart last week. A partnership between the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian branch of the Economic Society of Australia, the lecture is named for the eminent Australian economist, Lyndhurst Falkiner Giblin. Danielle used the occasion to issue this plea: “Let’s drop the petty generational warfare, and work together to ensure that the Australia we leave to our children is better than the one we inherited.” And...